River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1887-06-16
Size In Dairy Cattle.

| Falls, Wis.
Size In Dairy Cattle.
There is a madness in the blood of
the great mass of farmers in regard ia
the size of dairy cows and this madness
| is contributed to, in i great degree. by
many breeders. THIS question of size
and weight is what has ruined the
Short Horn and great portion of the
Devons as profitable dairy cows, and
many breeders of IIolsteins aud Guern.
seys, are following the same track.
1t is vicious notion and one that
we are convinced has no reference
whatever to that quality that makes a
COW profitable as dairy animal. On
the contrary size and weight beyond q
certain economic measure is as sure 2
handicap to a dairy COW as it is to a
race horse. Then again size and weight
must be supported and if the COW il
larger and heavier than is needed for
dairy performance, this support of the
extra weight becomes at the end OF
eight years heavy item of expense.
This applies with great force to cows
that are kept for butter making.
We believe that in the dairy, as well
as the beef animal. there Is s certain
economic standard of size, below which
or above which it is not best to go.
| The profit of COW in the making OF
| butter must always be considered in
connection with live weight. The food
an animal eats is divided every day,
according to the necessities of the ami
NAL, into three classifications. On
The food for growth or making of new
bone and tissue. ~ The food for
support of the bone and tissue already
made or to supply the waste. (3) The
| food of production. which in cattle
| finds expression in three ways; the
labor of the OK, the solids in milk and
surplus flesh. Now in butter making
we get no return from the food ex.
| pended until, in the mature cow, the
question of support is first satisfied and
| the cost of daily support is usually from
% to per cent. OF the live weight,
where the value of the food is reduced
| to the same standard as good hay.
With heifers the food is drawn upon,
! first for growth and second for support.
| before any can be expended in produc-
| ton.
This evidently is one of the reasons
why the milk of heifers is so deficient
in butter fat in comparison with older
| cows.
Now to support hundred or five
hundred pounds more weight than we
need say, for eight ears, at an expense
of ~ to 8 per cent of that weight in
food daily, is big expense. 1t is alb
solute waste. Bates, the great Eng.
| lish Short HON breeder, found that the
same principle applied in the produc-
ton of beef, and he went tO'work to
reduce his Short Horns to the most
economic standard of weight. The
same craze for more size without due
reference being had to economy of pro-
| duction is seen in our American breed
| ing of draft horses. 1t is size, SIZE,
| SIZE everywhere, and certain French
writers aver that we are destroying the
real effectiveness of She Percheron
| horse in our blind rage for size. The
Dairyman is very confident that this
same vicious notion is doing that work
for our dairy cattle.
Let US select our cows as we do our
statesmen, for talent not size. Let us
| breed toward the establishment of an
heredity for dairy production, and size
will regulate itself. This logic applies
to all breeds alike that come forward
and claim attention as profitable butter
producers. The first sharp practical
question with the butter dairyman is
I-..How much butter can get out of
| given amount of food and carel" and
the second is-"Where is the breed of
COWS that will take that food, and care
and work it up into butter most eco
nomically!" In catering to the necessi-
! ties Oh the butter dairymen breeders
will find themselves, more each year,
| compelled to build their cattle to suit
| this demand. The machine, whether
| it be a COW or churn, must be so con-
structed as to do ddirl work at the least
EXPENSE Hoard's DairymaR.
Walter Kidder, of Walsh Co., Oak.
in the st. Paul Farmer advocates feed
| ing calves on sour skim milk, and
claims that because some one recon-
mends sweet milk it looks "like an
advertisement for some deep cold set
! ting, or cream separating apparatus,
rather than an honest endeayor to get
at the truth.
| This is rather "raw," and some one
might with equal fairness retort that
| an argument in favor of feeding skim
milk sour looks more like an advertise.
ment of a man s laZiness and ignorance
than his energy and intelligence. But
| such unfair suspicious, and iuterpreta
| tons OF mans motives, one way or
the other. should have no place in the
mental machinery OF any set of men
seeking the truth.
The fact is the argument in favor
of feeding milk sweet is based on ma
ture, experience, and scientific knowl-
| edge of the elements of milk.
| First, Nature. The mother is sup
| posed to be as well fitted to preserve
| food for calf as ony one. and she
invariably feeds it sweet. Second,
| Experience. The preponderance of
testimony is at least ten to one with
| those who have made careful expert
ments in favor OF feeding the milk
sweet both to calves and pigs. Third
| Science. Skim milk contains about 3
pounds of solids in every 100 pounds of
| milk tho rest is water. OF these nine
pounds the milk sugar constitutes al.
most fire pounds. This milk sugar is
/ one Vi lU6 llOeb lulpOA IdiAb ClcutHLS Oh
growth just as long as it remains milk
sugar. The moment the milk sours
the sugar changes to Tactic acid, and
| hve.ninths OF the nutriment in every
| 100 pounds of milk is lost never to re-
| turn. Suppose we dissolve 1000 pounds
of cane sugar in a hOgshead of water.
Before it acidifies we can, by boiling
down the water, recover nearly all of
our sugar, but the moment it sOurs no
| process known 70 nature or science can
recover the sugar. Does any one sup
pose that vinegar will make as much
weight in young animal as sugar!
Hardly we think. We can thus see
that the sweet milk" argument is
based on sound reasoning and not on
favoritism for some milk setting pro-
cess. We have seen fairly good calves
raised on sour milk when the feeding
was commenced after they were sever
al weeks old p"- NC 900 CO.,, a., :
same calves show marked improvement
when the milk was changed and fed
sweet Iioard's Dairyman.
D~S~~
Big Rirer.
Crops are looking nicely since the
recent rains.
ID. +. Leach's agent passed through